Indicator.



No. 628,900. Patented July 1|, I899.

a. .1. VANDEGRIFT & .1. c. WEBB.

INDICATOR.

(Application meauu. as, 1899.) 3 Sheets-Sheet n.

Patented luly ll, I899.

G. J. VANDEGRIFT 8:. J. C. WEBB.

INDICATOR.

(Application filed. Mar 25, 1899.; m0 Model.) 3 sheets-Sheet 2 *Tfi I i l |XI 1| M I No. 628,900. Patented July ll, I899 G. JLVANDEGBIFT &. J. G. WEBB. INDICATOR.

(Application filed Mar. 25, 1899.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3:

yawn/Pow (ltbozwua Wi ma/am m: mums Prrzns co, PHOTO-LITHD.. WASHVNGYON. u. c

ITE are Arn'r GEORGE J. FANDEGRIFT, OF PHILADELPHIA, AND JEHU C. WEBB, OF

PORT PROVIDENCE, PENNSYLVANIA.

- INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 628,900, dated J my 11, 1899.

' Application filed March 25,1899. sear No. 710,435. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that W6, GEORGE J. VANDE- GRIFT, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia,and JEHU O. WEBB, residing at Port Providence, in the count-y of Montgomery, State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented a newand useful Improvementin Indicators; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the figures on the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to a novel indicator, particularly adapted for use in railway or other stations to indicate the time of arrival and departure, for instance, of trains. 4

The object of the invention is to produce a simple and efficient device of this character so constructed and arranged that the significant figures or those observed through the sight-opening of the indicator, placed, for instance, in the reception-room of a station or in the station-yard for the guidance of the train-despatchers assistant, may be changed or rearranged from time to time by the shiftingor adjusting of one or a series of indexlevers or other devices traveling over a graduated scale or index located at a point distant from the indicator properas, for instance, in the office of the train-despatcher or other responsible official-the said index devices being operatively connected with one or a series of indicator-drums through intermediate mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to so mount the indexes and movable index devices that when the latter are adjusted or arranged to present the proper characters before the sight-opening of the index they may be securely locked in position against unauthorized manipulation.

upper end of the index-casing. Fig. 5 is a detail View of one of the index-levers and its carriage, and Fig. 6 is a detail view of one of the carriages and cooperating mechanism.

Referring to the numerals of reference on the drawings, 1 indicates what we will term assume that the indicator isdesigncd for use in a railway-station to indicate the time of departure of trains. In this instance, therefore, a figureas, for instance, amayindicate the track,and the words Train leaves located above the sight-opening may indicate the significance of the figures visible therethrough. 7 Within the casing 1 is suitably mounted a preferably metallic supportingframe 3, comprising a base-plate 4: and a pair of standards 5, which support at their upper ends'a rod or axle 6, which extends beyond the casing the desired distance and extends through the upper end of the index-casing 7. This axle is designed to revolubly support a series of indicator-drums 8, 9, and 10 within the indicator and a series of gearings, preferably sprocket-wheels 11, 12, and13, within the index-casing. In order to mount the drums coaxially and independently, we provide a series of hollow interfitting or concentricallyarranged shafts, the inner of which, 14, directly surrounds the axle 6, and to it, at its opposite ends, are keyed or otherwise secured the sprocket 11 and the drum 8. The next larger shaft 15, which is revolubly mounted upon the shaft 14, likewise carries at its opposite ends the sprocket 12 and the drum 9, and the largest or outside shaft 16 carries the sprocket 13 and the drum 10, the several shafts being successively shortened to properly space the sprockets within the indexcasing and to permit of the contiguous arrangement of the several drums. The indi cater-drums respectively comprise a pair of disks or circular frames 17, which support the opposite edges of a strip of preferably translucent material 18, passed around the disks to provide a circular or peripheral surface, upon which is imprinted the characters to be ICO presented before the sight-opening 2 in the indicator-casing. drum 8 may be termed the hour-drum, the drum 9 the tens-drum, and the drum 10 the minute-drum, the first having imprinted upon its periphery thirteen characters-to wit O to l2, inclusivecorresponding to the divisions of time in hours, the second drum havinglikewise imprinted upon its pe ripherysix characters, O to 5, inclusive, representing the ten-min ute divisions of each hour, and the last or minute drum bearing ten characters, 0 to 9, inclusive, indicating the minute divisions of each ten minutes of the hour. By this arrangement of characters the independently revoluble drums may be adjusted or rotated to present any desired time designation before the sightopening 2 in the indicator-casing. For instance, as is shown in the drawings, the numerals 8 3 3 presented before the sight-opening by the character-carrying elements or drums 8, 9, and 10 indicate the eighth hour, the third series of ten minutes, and the third minute of the fourth series of ten, thus designating thirty-three min utes after eight oclock.

19 indicates a transverse shaft suitably supported within the index-easing below and parallel with the axle 6, and upon said shaft are mounted three sprocket-wheels 20, 21, and 22, alining with the sprocket-wheels 11, 12, and 13.

23, 24, and 25 indicate suitable gearingbandsas, for instance, sprocket-chains passed around each pair of alining sprocketwheels and having incorporated in their lengths or operatively secured thereto in any desired manner carriages 26, 27, and 28, which are designed to travel over the hour, tens, and minute indexes or index-plates 29, 30, and 31, all of which are provided with equidistant transverse slots or depressions 32, corresponding in number to the number of characters upon the corresponding drum, it being observed that each carriage through its sprocket-band, gears, and hollow axle is connected to one of the drums in the indicatorcasing. These series of depressions, w llCh constitute graduations, are properly spaced to provide an advance of one figure by the connected drum when the carriage is advanced the distance of one graduation.

33, 34:, and 35 indicate what may be termed index or locking levers, pivotally mounted on ears 36, extending from the face of each carriage and provided, respectively, beyond their fulcrums with a locking lug or projection 37, extending through openings 38 in the carriages and located and arranged in a manner to cause its engagement with the slots or depressions 32 in the several graduated plates when the index-levers are turned down in one direction, thus constituting locking mechanism for retaining the carriages in their adjusted positions. Each lever is also provided with a stop-lug 37.

In the present instance the \Vhcn it is desired to rearrange the significant characters or those viewed through the opening, it is simply necessary to elevate the index-levers until the projections 37 are disengaged from the slots 32, when, as will be obvious, the carriage may be moved to the desired graduation, causing a correlative movement of the connected drum, which is then looked in position by turning down the index-lever, as stated.

The several index-plates may be mounted in any suitable manner; but we prefer to secure them upon a faceplate 38, mounted within the index-casing and preferably bearing one or more series of characters corresponding to the characters on the drums and arranged opposite to the slots of the plates. 39'indicates a door hinged to one side of the indicator-casing and designed to be closed over the face-plate when the index-levers are turned down and to be locked against unauthorized access to the operating mechanism. hen the looking or index levers are in their elevated positions, they project beyond the index-casing and prevent the closing of the door unless it is swung with suiiicient force to depress the levers, in which event the door constitutes an actuating device for automaticallylocking the carriages in place when the casing is closed.

By the employment of the device as illustrated and described it will be seen that there is practically no limit to the distance which may in practice separate the indicator-settin g mechanism (which general designation may be applied to the index-plates, carriages, and levers) and the indicator, as it is obvious that the hollow shafts may be made of any length and that various forms of long-distance gearing may be provided between the setting mechanism and the several shafts, the only essential being a determinate relation of movement between the carriages and drums, in order that any adjustment or rearrangement of any or all of the carriages within the indeX-casing will effect a corresponding adj ustment of the drums within the indicator-casing, and we do not therefore desire to limit ourselves to the structural details illustrated and described, but reserve the right to change,

modify, or vary such details within the scope of the protection prayed.

Any suitable source of light may be provided within the drums of the indicator, the peripheral material of which drums is translucent, and the significant figures are therefore thrown into relief by the contrast produced by the posterior light.

As stated, the invention which for the purpose of this description has been defined as a railway-indicator is not limited to this use; but by slight rearrangement not affecting the essential elements of the invention it may be adapted for use in any connection where the constant rearrangement or adjustment of significant characters is desirable for the designation or indication of any fact or facts which may be indicated to the mind of the observer by such rearrangement of the characters of several definite series. In other words, the in vention may be comprehended in any character of indicator-as, for instance, of time-signals, station-indicators, fare-registers, game or other counters, &c.

hat we claim is 1. The combination with an indicator comprising a rotary character-carrying element, of a graduated index, a carriage movable over said index, mechanism intermediate of said carriage and element, an index-lever carried by saidcarriage and locking mechanism operatively connected with said lever, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with an indicatorcomprising a series of character-carrying elements, of a casing, setting mechanism within the casing and operatively connected with the character-carrying elements, locking devices for the setting mechanism, and a hinged door carried by the casing and obstructed against closing by said locking devices when in their unlocked positions, substantiallyas specified.

3. The combination with an indicator, of an index-casing, setting mechanism within said casing and operatively connected with the indicator, locking devices for said setting mechanism projecting beyond the casing when in their unlocked positions and a door carried by the casing and constituting means for automatically locking the devices, sub stantially as specified. p

4. The combination With a plurality of concentric hollow shafts, of an indicator-drum and a gear wheel carried by each of said shafts, bands operatively connected with the gear-wheels at one side of the series of drums,

and means for operating the bands to cause the actuation of the drums, substantially as specified.

5. The combination'with a series of concentric hollow shafts, of a drum and gearwheel carried by each of said shafts, bands passing over the several gear-wheels, and adjustable carriages operatively connected to the said bands, substantially as specified.

6. The combination with a series of concentric hollow shafts, of a drum and gearwheel carried by each of said shafts, a band operatively connected to each gear-wheel, a series of graduated devices, carriages movable over the indexes and operatively connected respectivelywith the bands,and means for locking the carriages to the indexes, substantially as specified.

7. The combination with a series of concentric hollow shafts, of a drum and gear carried by each shaft, a shaft located below said hollow shafts, gear-Wheels carried thereby, endless bands passed over corresponding gear-wheels upon the hollow shafts and upon the shaft last referred to, slotted index-p1ates, carriages movable over the index-plates and operatively connected to the bands, index-levers carried by each of the carriages and projections on said levers designed to engage the slots in the index plates, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE J. VANDEGRIFT. JEHU c. WEBB.

Witnesses:

F. O. WILHELM, J OHN E. LATTA. 

